Lamps and different countries

Question

I'm moving from France to Canada. I recently had to rewire a lamp that had a bad socket. It was surprising to me how simple it was to just buy a new cable with a switch, feed it through the lamp's body, reconnect it to the new socket, and end up with effectively a new lamp with a longer cable. So now that we're moving, we've got these four lamps that we love and I'm wondering, can't I just buy new cables with switches, rewire those other lamps and start using North American lightbulbs (they now have 220V LEDs) or would the sockets have to change as well?

Thanks for any advice!!

Answer 1

Yes, you shouldn't have too much problem rewiring your lamps. Replacement parts are readily available at big box hardware stores, and lighting shops. What you call an "E27" base, we would more often refer to as an "Edison" base. It is by far the most common light bulb socket in North America. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edison_screw

The E14 is not seen often, the E12 or "Candelabra" base are more typical for smaller applications.

Well with the socket taken care of, you have two more problems:

• You will also have to replace plug, with the two parallel blade type. Table lamps are typically not grounded but should be polarized, with the hot switched to the base, and the neutral on the screw.
• Your bulbs should handle 120v @ 60 Hz